


rinse and repeat

by Manfedzku



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist (Anime 2003), Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Coping, Depression, Dishwashing, Gen, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-15
Updated: 2020-02-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:27:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22730959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Manfedzku/pseuds/Manfedzku
Summary: Dishwashing: the Flame Alchemist’s favorite pastime. Over the years, it also became somewhat similar to a personal ritual.
Relationships: Roy Mustang & Maes Hughes, Roy Mustang & Riza Hawkeye
Comments: 3
Kudos: 68
Collections: Manfedzku Writes





	rinse and repeat

***

Before Roy worked with fire, he wielded water.

He twisted the valve open, and as a chanting thud echoed in the sink and throughout his Aunt Chris’ kitchen, he diligently attended to the dirty dishes that had piled up overnight. Since he lived with several sisters, there were always a lot of plates to wash, and since all of these sisters were occupied working for the Madame (and they had to work fast in a rush-out-immediately-after-breakfast sort of way— _gathering intel was something to be done quick for Grumman after all_ ), Roy had been the de facto dishwasher.

There’s a bit of art to it. Madame Chris had always instructed him to treat every plate, bowl, or saucer as if it was a power-hungry man: coax the dirt out of him.

So he soaked and ran every dish under the faucet, enjoying how the water etched trailing pathways across the most hardened stains. Then he would set the lot aside to start on the glasses. With a soft soapy sponge, he rubbed at the lipstick marks that kissed the rim of a glass, then he reached inside to wash the stickiness left over from some wine. After rinsing, the aroma of fermented grapes lingered in the air.

He took care to give each spoon, knife, and fork the same amount of attention by polishing the silver until it gleamed. For the dishes, he scrubbed the surface in hypnotic circular motions, and then rubbed the pad of his thumb against the porcelain until the dinnerware would sound a happy squeak of appreciation.

Then he would place the wares on a rack, allowing them to drain.

His work never received criticism. Even his aunt, who had a watchful eye and would gripe about the tiniest grit stuck in between the tines of a fancy restaurant’s fork, ate without looking twice at the cutlery he cleaned.

In truth, he had made an array that could immediately transmute the dirt and food stains off. _But then_ , he thought, using it would take the fun away from his favorite chore.

***

Over the years, dishwashing also became Roy’s eloquence. When he was apprenticing under Berthold Hawkeye and Riza was trying to maintain the rotting house as best as she could, Roy did his part by manually filling up a pail of water from the nearest well and washing the towering stack of dishes for her. When he would have dinner with the Hugheses, he would insist on doing the dishes and Maes would joke about how he loved washing dishes so much that, during their military academy days, Roy intentionally broke a cafeteria rule just to get it as a day-long punishment.

Nevermind the fact that it was actually _Maes Hughes_ who broke the rule and had framed Roy for it.

He never offered to do the dishes for generals, nor ill-meaning people when they invite him over for private dinners.

Washing dishes was good. Better than washing off blood— _than washing ash, than washing the persistent burnt scent of overused gloves_ —from his hands. An illusion of cleansing the sins committed by every snap of his fingers.

At the moment, the dish Roy was washing slipped from his hold and shattered all over the floor. With a sigh, he grabbed a hard broom and swept the remains.

This was the fourth time that week.

In his apartment in the East, once every seven seconds, the faucet leaked. Roy let it flow at its own rate, he let it drip.

He let himself breathe.


End file.
